Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.
On the heels of oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court, we provide an update to a prior ELM post whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s has the ability to regulate carbon emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act. Various theories abound that the court could depend on to support …
On March 16, 2022, the U.S. EPA Press Office issued a news release about implementing two key actions to prevent exposure from products with PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl). The first action involves notification about fluorinated bottles; the second calls for the removal of two PFAS from the EPA’s Safer Chemicals Ingredients List. These two actions …
The last time the EPA tightened standards for truck emissions like this, the century was barely a year old and Bill Clinton was still President; in December of 2000 the EPA issued rules dramatically limiting particulate matter (PM) emissions and Nitric Oxide (NOx) on heavy duty trucks to go into effect for 2007-2010. PM has …
In December 2021, the EPA announced new lead and copper rule improvements for drinking water. These rule improvements come on the heels of a prior extension of the final rule from June 2021. The final lead and copper rule was extended by the Biden Administration to provide more time for review and for input from …
A decade ago, as part of a concerted effort to reign in industrial pollution, the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated the mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) pursuant to its authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The purpose, as implied by the title, was to limit the amount of mercury and other toxins …
As our blog recently reported, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an ambitious national strategy to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) over the next three years. Dubbed a “roadmap,” the EPA says that it is centered on three guiding strategies focused on research, restrictions, and remediation: “Increase investments in research, leverage authorities to take …
On December 29, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington held that, under the Clean Water Act, the EPA does not serve as a “mere bystander” in cases where states refuse to or cannot take action to implement water quality standards that protect aquatic life. See Northwest Envtl. Advocates v. United …
As 2021 came to a close and many Americans were setting their own standards and goals for 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency announced finalized revisions to national greenhouse gas emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks. Overall, the new industry-wide average target will come out to roughly 40 miles per gallon by 2026. A …
On December 20, 2021, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) to establish nationwide monitoring for 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium in drinking water. Distilled to its essence, the new rule requires certain public water systems to collect data for 29 PFAS, as well as …
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to include natural gas processing (NGP) facilities, also referred to as “natural gas liquid extraction facilities”, to the expanding list of industry groups obligated to report releases of specific chemicals pursuant to the reporting requirements of Section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 …